Games industry will die without innovation, says Heavy Rain creator

The games industry will eventually die if it doesn't do more to innovate, so says Quantic Dream founder David Cage.

Heavy Rain's creator strongly believes if the games industry "doesn't try more to be innovative and to come up with new ideas", it'll "die".

"This industry will die if it doesn't try more to be innovative and to come up with new ideas and to talk a bit more. [It doesn't need to be] necessarily serious, but deeper things at some point. It's great that you can shoot at monsters, and that's great and it will always be there and it will always be successful, but at the same time, what about giving the choice to people? Give them different options. So if they like that they find it, but if they want something deeper and interactive, they can find that too."

Cage, however, expressed he isn't trying to tell the industry "what they should, or shouldn't do", but rather stating developers should be utilizing games as a way to "express something, and to trigger deeper emotions." One such title that, in Cage's eyes, achieved exactly that is Journey.

"Journey was amazing. It has nothing to do with what I'm doing. But it's not so much about storytelling. It's about emotion. It's about trying something different."

It's big name studios that are killing the industry. Executives want to please share holders before the actual consumers. If there's a formula that works, they stick with that (eg: CoD).

Another example is Dead Space. The first game was developed by a small team at EA and was a good horror suspense game. Once it did well, EA threw it through the corporate wheel. Now the Dead Space franchise focuses less on its roots and has become more of an Action game.

The industry is in a rather poor state but I think with the influx in Indie development we start to see some really great games.

While I agree with David Cage I think the industry is far from dead. Look at what CD Projekt Red did with the Witcher series. They started small time and now they are a booming success thanks to their engaging and thoughtful Witcher games.

The spirit of story telling and engaging your audience in the video game industry is still alive and well. Stories like this are great to "wake" people up to matters in quality gaming, but I don't think the industry is going down.

Games will never die, the industry might die but that will just push innovation. If EA and Activision collapsed today gaming would only be in a better place.

As long as there are "indie" friendly platforms like Steam and fantastic developers out there like CD Projekt Red I'll never loose hope in gaming. Even if that currently means there is usually less than 5 games per year that remotely interest me.

I agree for the most part there are still creative games out there but the big name companies have found they don't even need to try anymore. Back in the day they we're payed based on how well their game did and strove to make their game the best it can be, but now not only do they have a base salary they're finding all they have to do is release a yearly blockbuster cod style. I know nintendo gets bashed a lot these days but at least they don't let success go to their heads, not that much anyway.

It's big name studios that are killing the industry. Executives want to please share holders before the actual consumers. If there's a formula that works, they stick with that (eg: CoD).

Another example is Dead Space. The first game was developed by a small team at EA and was a good horror suspense game. Once it did well, EA threw it through the corporate wheel. Now the Dead Space franchise focuses less on its roots and has become more of an Action game.

The industry is in a rather poor state but I think with the influx in Indie development we start to see some really great games.

In a typical capitalist world, the tendency of small team/developers to go 'BIG' is an ordinary phenomenon....Remember 'growth' is the foundation of every business whether it be a small grocery shop or a game development team.

So, in a nutshell, Yes, a small-time team will have a chance to become a 'Big' corporate partner or a successful stand alone company in our capitalist society.

Whether a small/big team will collapse under its own gravity of 'Corporate Greed' is one of the post GFC phenomena that we have yet to further observe....

What we need is a better social-capitalist business development for gaming industries. I think that the social-market economy is better suited for the U.S. and its gaming sectors.

There needs to be some forms of strict regulations to contain the 'greed' of big corporations/financiers/bankers in the U.S. Afer all, just like in the animal world, greedy big businesses will kill/devour small businesses. We must eliminate the 'animal spirits' of big corporations particularly the CEOs from the Wall Street.

P.S. Remember 'Greed' is inherent in capitalism...Far worse than 'Communist's greed' for power!

Allow me to play devil's advocate and for all purposes be a complete dick here, just to show a different side to the argument. JUST BECAUSE I TYPE THIS DOES NOT MEAN I AGREE WITH IT!!!

Sure is easy to go ahead and repeat what EVERY OTHER "HIP & COOL" DEVELOPER HAS BEEN SAYING! Honestly, this exact quote gets tossed around so much now-adays that it is getting to become nothing but an attention grab of a move. It has been in so many news articles lately it is getting old.

The game industry isn't dieing, look at the big AAA titles, they are selling millions of copies! Why? Because in the tough economic client gamers would rather spend cash on something they know they will enjoy than spend it on an unknown game that has been getting attention, but is some new sort of game that breaks from the norm that they are not sure if they will enjoy or not. Just because a game is "big and mainstream" doesn't make it an abomination of gaming, most of those games get there because, shock and awe, THEY DESERVE TO BE THERE! What the game industry needs now isn't innovation, to get through this economic climate it needs a more focused view on what gamers want and enjoy, hell, Activision may have it right on the nose, those "Fat cats" are rolling in cash!

Honestly lets say for a year or two nothing but these side projects that are so different from the norm come out, and go figure, NONE of them sell as well as all the AAA titles they have replaced, simply because they aren't known enough for people who have to budget now more than ever to spend some cash on them. The industry takes a hit, and more studios and developers close than were before. Way to go innovation, you just killed gaming!

People buy Call Of Duty because they know it, it generally delivers on the investment, that is why even now people will sit aside cash to get the game! The same goes for Halo, Assassin's Creed, and the other big upcoming titles. Greed is what will keep the industry safe through the economic troubles the market is facing now, sure we will lose a lot of the smaller fish, but survival of the fittest is as basic as it gets, but what we will get when the industry comes out the other side if and when the economy recovers, is a strong group of developers who can rebuild, and the smaller guys will be replaced by new young guns on the other side.

Honestly if two games cost 60 bucks, and one is, lets say Assassin's Creed 3, and the other is some odd adventuring game that promises a deep story and "innovation on what we think is the norm", but you have never heard of the name and haven't even seen anyone buy the game before, which are you going to spend the non-refundable money on? Chances are, if you aren't some hipster tool, the more popular and known game!

I have to say, I like doing that, that was fun, being the asshole is a refreshing change of pace to just agreeing with everything.